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Sunday, June 12, 2011

Mud glorious mud!

We had a good day today at round 1 of this years new and improved BikeHutt Cyclo-Cross series. It was my first serious outing on my new Surly Karate Monkey so I was hoping all my DIY mechanicing would hold together. I had a 42 mm tire on the front and a 38 on the back so riding out to the event on the road was a doddle. I stopped for some more "moody" shots on the side of the road while the bike was still clean.

The course itself was the most enjoyable one I have done so far, and either it was longer, or I was fitter, because I didn't get lapped which was good. It would have been an excellent course for a single-speed set-up and I reckon I only used two gears on the back as it was. I diced with Mike Thomson early on in the race and he was on his Masi CX bike set up in Single Speed mode, no way I could hang with him. The Karate Monkey worked flawlessly and although it picked up a bit of mud it didn't impact on gears or anything that was going to cause me grief. The 45 minutes plus 1 lap format is just right, although 40 mins plus one would have suited me better as I exploded pretty much on time during the last lap.

There were heaps more CX bikes there this time and some really fruity set-ups. I am pretty sure Revolution Cycle's Alex Revell was the winner on the day on his very cool Yeti Cross bike.

Check out a nice image from lensman Craig Madsen (http://www.craigmadsen.com/). I met him after the event while washing my bike. He has this beautiful looking Pugsly. As he was washing it as the thing was trying to float away!

Some more images (above) of one-time NZ Junior Downhill Champ - Ed Banks, Cleetus and myself. I don't know how Cleetus gets all that crap on his face. Maybe he has a water bottle full of it and he squirts it on so he looks staunch.